I recently attended a 2016 Economic Forecast for Austin, where chief economist with Stewart Title, Dr. Ted Jones, shared with us his predictions.

And side note, I've been going to his forecasts for years. I don't know how he does it, yet Dr. Jones has a knack for making an economy talk entertaining. So I will do the same and share with you my "top takeaways" from this event.

The economy in Austin (and real estate market) will be as good as last year.

Reasons for this include the job growth in Austin (and surrounding areas) last year was 3.88% (just about double the U.S. job growth of 1.88%) and our local economy's health is not tied to oil and gas. With Austin at 2.2 months of inventory, the jobs being created is exceeding the housing supply. A shortage in housing (both for rent and for sale) increases demand and prices rise.

Last week the Austin Board of Realtors reported that the median price for a home in Austin increased $30,000 last year. So, expect this to all happen again. And if you keep putting off buying a home or an investment home, ouch. You can see how procrastinating can cost you big time. (If you are waiting for the recession to buy, I didn't see home values in Austin suffer too much in many of the neighborhoods. Many of them still appreciated during the recession. Double ouch! So don't try to time the market, that's a difficult game to play.)

Home Prices in Austin are still Affordable (when compared to the U.S.)

I may get some eye rolling saying this, yet it's true! When comparing Austin's Median Home Price to the U.S. Median Home price (and factoring in the Median Household Incomes for 2014), Austin's Home price to Income Ratio is lower than the U.S. Dr. Jones made the point, it helps that the jobs being created in Austin are good paying jobs (you can see in the chart below, much higher than the U.S. Median).

People have money in their pockets here In Austin to spend (and that is being further helped by the low oil prices. And both of these aspects will offset the effect of interest rates rising.)

So there you have it. Another great year for home owners and investors in Austin, TX! Let's go watch some live music and celebrate, or eat some queso and margaritas (or both:)

My name is Laura Ivy Blessing and I blog about the Austin area known and lesser known happenings with a splash of real estate savvy for today's buyers and sellers. blessing@kw.com 512-789-5087